England national football team, 28 October 1959

Anthony Allen (27 November 1939 – 2 December 2022) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played most of his club career as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

between 1957 and 1970. He also made three appearances for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 1959, before his twentieth birthday.

Career

Allen was born in

Hanley Hanley is one of the six towns that, along with Burslem, Longton, Fenton, Tunstall and Stoke-upon-Trent, amalgamated to form the City of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. Hanley is the ''de facto'' city centre, having long been the ...

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

, and after playing football for his schools and the

Boys' Brigade The Boys' Brigade (BB) is an international interdenominational Christian youth organisation, conceived by the Scottish businessman Sir William Alexander Smith to combine drill and fun activities with Christian values. Following its inception ...

, he was signed by

as an amateur, before turning professional on his seventeenth birthday in November 1956. He instantly became a regular under Frank Taylor establishing himself at

with ease. Although playing outside the top division, his talents were soon spotted by the

selectors. After winning caps at youth and under-23 levels, he was called up for the full international side for a

British Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

match against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in place of

Jimmy Armfield James Christopher Armfield, (21 September 1935 – 22 January 2018) was an English professional football player and manager who latterly worked as a football pundit for BBC Radio Five Live. He played the whole of his Football League career at B ...

on 17 October 1959. The match was drawn 1–1 and Allen was retained for the next two matches, against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

(a 3–2 defeat) and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

(won 2–1). For the next international match the following April, Ray Wilson was preferred at left-back, remaining first choice for most of the next decade. Although he received further caps at under-23 level (earning seven in all) Allen was never selected again for the full England eleven. He remains one of only two players of modern times (the other being

Nick Pickering Nicholas Pickering (born 4 August 1963 in South Shields) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder in the Football League for Sunderland, Coventry City, Derby County, Darlington and Burnley. He was capped once for the E ...

) to have only played for England while still in his teens. Under new manager

Tony Waddington Anthony Waddington (9 November 1924 – 21 January 1994) was an English football manager at both Crewe Alexandra and Stoke City. Waddington had a seven-year playing career with Crewe Alexandra before becoming a coach at Stoke City. He progress ...

he became a vital member of 'Waddington's wall' a tactic which helped Stoke stave off the threat of relegation in 1960–61 and then gain promotion in 1962–63 by winning the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

title. He was ever-present throughout the 1960–61 and 1961–62 seasons, and only missed one game in the promotion season. In this period, he clocked up a run of 148 consecutive appearances, which remains a Stoke record. Stoke finished their first season back in the First Division in 17th place, and also reached the final of the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

, where they were defeated by

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

4–3 on

aggregate Aggregate or aggregates may refer to: Computing and mathematics * collection of objects that are bound together by a root entity, otherwise known as an aggregate root. The aggregate root guarantees the consistency of changes being made within the ...

. In 1967, Allen was involved in an incident which led to a major change in the International Laws of Association Football. On 13 May 1967,

visited

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

to play

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Paddy Crerand Paddy may refer to: People *Paddy (given name), a list of people with the given name or nickname *An ethnic slur for an Irishman Birds *Paddy (pigeon), a Second World War carrier pigeon *Snowy sheathbill or paddy, a bird species *Black-faced sh ...

of United had an altercation with

Peter Dobing Peter Dobing (born 1 December 1938) is an English former footballer who played in the Football League for Blackburn Rovers, Manchester City and Stoke City. Career Dobing was born in Manchester and came from a sporting family, his father play ...

of Stoke, which was dealt with by referee

Pat Partridge Patrick Partridge BEM (30 June 1933 – 31 October 2014) was an English football referee, and former President of the Association of Football League Referees and Linesmen. His occupation outside football was as a farmer.dismissible offence. Midway through the 1966–67 season Allen's pace began to desert him, so Waddington switched him to centre back alongside

Maurice Setters Maurice Edgar Setters (16 December 1936 – 22 November 2020) was an English football player and manager. As a player, he made more than 400 appearances in the Football League for Exeter City, West Bromwich Albion, Manchester United, Stoke City, ...

and this allowed him to prolong his career until

Willie Stevenson William Stevenson (born 26 October 1939) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. He played for Rangers, Liverpool, Stoke City, Tranmere Rovers and the Vancouver Whitecaps. Career Rangers Stevenson was born in Leith, M ...

was signed from

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in 1967. After drifting in and out of the side for 18 months, Allen left Stoke in October 1970, when he moved to

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

for a fee of £10,000. He was given a joint

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

along with

Eric Skeels Eric Thomas Skeels (born 27 October 1939) is an English former Association football, footballer. He played 512 games in the English Football League, Football League, 507 for Stoke City F.C., Stoke City. He is Stoke's record appearance holder ha ...

against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

in February 1969. After a year with the

Gigg Lane Gigg Lane is a football ground in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, built for Bury F.C. in 1885. The first match was played on 12 September 1885 between Bury and a team from Wigan. One of the world's oldest professional football stadiums, Gig ...

club, he moved to

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

to play for Hellenic. He returned to England in October 1973, and ended his playing career with non-league Nantwich Town after a spell with Stafford Rangers.

After football

After ending his playing career, he returned to Stoke where he became a newsagent in Blythe Bridge. Allen also helped to coach local junior clubs. Allen died at the

Royal Stoke University Hospital Royal Stoke University Hospital (formerly the University Hospital of North Staffordshire) is a teaching and research hospital at Hartshill in the English county of Staffordshire. It lies in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, near the border with New ...

on 2 December 2022, at the age of 83.Anthony Allen
/ref>

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Stoke City *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

runner-up:

References

External links

Profile on www.englandfc.com

Profile on www.englandstats.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Tony 1939 births 2022 deaths Footballers from Stoke-on-Trent English footballers England international footballers England under-23 international footballers Bury F.C. players Stafford Rangers F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Hellenic F.C. players Association football fullbacks English Football League players English Football League representative players English expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in South Africa Nantwich Town F.C. players Sportspeople from Hanley, Staffordshire